The present disclosure relates to a multilayer ceramic capacitor.
Examples of electronic component using a ceramic material include a capacitor, an inductor, a piezoelectric material, a varistor, a thermistor, and the like.
Among these ceramic electronic components, a multilayer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) has advantages such as miniaturization, high capacity, and easiness of mounting or the like.
The multilayer ceramic capacitor is a chip shaped condenser mounted on circuit boards of various electronic products such as a display device, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma display panel (PDP), or the like, a computer, a personal digital assistants (PDA), a mobile phone, and the like, to serve to charge electricity or discharge electricity.
Recently, due to an increase in a size of display devices, an increase in a speed of a central processing unit (CPU), or the like, a severe heat generation defect has occurred in the electronic device.
Therefore, in the multilayer ceramic capacitor, the securing of sufficient capacitance and reliability is required even at a high temperature for a stable operation of an integrated circuit (IC) installed in the electronic device.
Recently, in accordance with miniaturization of the multilayer ceramic capacitor and an increase in capacitance thereof, a thickness of dielectric layers is significantly reduced, thereby leading to an inability to secure a lifespan of the multilayer ceramic capacitor and to stabilize quality thereof. Particularly, an electroplating process has a large influence on the quality of the multilayer ceramic capacitor, such that a plating solution or moisture permeates into interfaces of the dielectric layers or internal electrodes through gaps of base electrode layers containing conductive glass to thereby decrease insulating resistance.
In order to solve these defects, a multilayer ceramic capacitor having a structure in which internal electrodes exposed through both end surfaces of a ceramic body and dummy electrodes exposed through one main surface of the ceramic body are formed on dielectric layers, and plating layers are precipitated and grown on exposed portions of the dummy electrodes to form a pair of terminal electrodes on one surface of the capacitor, thereby being mounted on a substrate through a lower surface of the capacitor has been disclosed.
However, in the multilayer ceramic capacitor having the above-mentioned structure, that is, a structure in which base electrode layers formed of conductive glass and connected to exposed portions of the internal electrodes contact the exposed portions of the internal electrodes, the permeation of a plating solution may be caused through interfaces between the dummy electrodes and the base electrode layers at the time of forming the terminal electrodes by growing the plating layers on the dummy electrodes, such that reliability is decreased.
The following Patent Document 1 relates to a multilayer ceramic capacitor and discloses that plating layers are grown on dummy electrodes to form terminal electrodes, but does not disclose a configuration for preventing the permeation of the plating solution through the interfaces between the dummy electrodes and the base electrode layers at the time of forming the terminal electrodes by growing the plating layers on the dummy electrodes.